I’ve become very good at buying music these days. I rarely dislike anything I purchase, but that is a problem. With the ability to sample nearly anything and everything before I buy, my taste has become so narrowed down. Thus, my list is probably the most predictable list of all. But I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. The great thing about music is that it’s so subjective. You like what you like. I don’t listen to music as much […]

The biggest shopping week of the year, a 7-day period filled with superstar releases. The possibilities were endless. Would Rihanna score her first ever #1 album? Would rock band Nickelback give all the haters a metaphorical middle finger with a chart-topping debut? Would Mary J. Blige add to an impressive list of first-week numbers? Ladies and gentlemen, the #1 album in the country is: Michael Buble’s Christmas. The Canadian crooner’s holiday album, which has been out for over a month, […]

In the second half of Mary J. Blige’s career, she cemented her status as a legend and managed to gain crossover respectability while still maintaining her status as hip-hop/R&B’s go-to girl. It became obvious that she was the blueprint for many of the female artists on the radio, from Jazmine Sullivan to Fantasia. Meanwhile, Mary experimented with and broadened her own sound, working with pop/rock legends like Sting and U2 (and winning a Grammy for the former collaboration). She even […]